The special cutters have typically been employed for cutting the facial hair located in the vicinity of the nose and ears, since other methods for cutting hair in these areas simply has not proved effective. For example, the use of scissors requires that they be operated in rather awkward positions to get at the hair in the remote areas such as that within the nostrils and ears. The problem with the use of scissors is that a slight movement or jarring in the wrong direction may result in a puncture of the skin in these areas causing slight pain and discomfort. Devices used in shaving and in cutting facial hair such as razor blades and electric razors typically are not configured properly for easy access to hair within these relatively confined areas. As a result, specially configured cutters have been required for this purpose.
An example of such a cutter is U.S. Pat. No. 2,312,933 to Seider which discloses a rotary clipper for nose and ear cavities adapted to be hand operated. The Seider device includes a head having a circle of comblike teeth or prongs extending therefrom. A portion of the head includes an annular slot for receiving a rotary shear knife thimble or cutter blade which rotates within the slot to cut the hairs in the vicinity of the prongs. In addition to rotation, there is also a provision in the Seider device for movement of the cutter blades in a longitudinal direction through the interaction of cam device. The cutter blades are operated in this rotational and longitudinal motion by a turn knob at the end of the device opposite to the head.
Another example of such a special cutter is shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 2,461,858 to Towers which employs spiral cutters for shaving. However, a clipper is provided for cutting the hair around the ears and nostrils. The clippers shown utilize projecting fingers on outer rings of the spiral cutters which interact with teeth on combplate sections to effect the cutting of the hair in the more remote areas.
The problem with the special cutters which have characterized the prior art, of which the above two patents are examples, is that they are rather complex in configuration and typically do not maintain their cutting effectiveness over long periods of time. In addition, they are susceptible because of their complex configurations to bending and breaking primarily due to the dimensions of the teeth used in connection with the cutting process. Furthermore, it is difficult to maintain dimensional integrity to ensure effective cutting surfaces due to the complex configuration employed.
It is an object of the invention described herein to overcome many of the deficiencies which have characterized these types of special cutters in the past.
More specifically, it is an object to provide a cutter having teeth with slots therebetween utilizing a rotable member which is more efficient, more dependable, and cheaper to manufacture than cutters which have characterized the prior art.